The present invention relates to serial bit pattern recognizer system for detecting a bit pattern in a serial stream of binary bits.
The invention is based on finite state machine theory which says that a process can be expressed as a sequence of steps, otherwise known as states. Each state represents an action or decision. At any given state in the process, all that is required to determine the next state, is knowledge of the current state and the current input value. In the past, finite state machines have been implemented using digital electronics, to control the operation of machinery and computers.
The present invention is a new and unobvious application of finite state machine theory. In the present invention, a finite state machine is used to determine whether or not a certain bit pattern is present in an incoming stream of binary bits. The sought after bit pattern contains a given number of binary bits in a pattern that is known apriori, beforehand. Out of the undeciphered stream of binary bits, the disclosed serial bit pattern recognizer system will detect the sought after bit pattern. This is a new application of finite state machine theory.
The present invention is not anticipated by Sakagami, U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,218.
Sakagami et al. use a code string on a first line to cause a receipt of data bits on a second line. The data bits and the code string, or bit pattern, are not on the same line. All of the bits are not in a single bit stream.
In the disclosed serial bit pattern recognizer system, the data bits and the code stream, or bit pattern, are on the same line. In the disclosed recognizer system, the data bits and the bit pattern are in a single bit stream.
Sakagami et al. use a comparator to detect a bit pattern. The code stream, or bit pattern, is fed into the comparator in a parallel manner. A copy of the code stream, or bit pattern, is also fed into the comparator, in a paralleled manner, from an address set circuit. Sakagami et al. do not disclose a storage means and a random access memory, having decision tree statements stored therein, to detect a serial bit pattern in a single bit stream on a single line.